Khabib Nurmagomedov has been a force of nature in the lightweight division and no fighter has yet to survive his destruction inside the cage.
Since making his debut at the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2012, the Russian wrestling machine has been undefeated to go 12-0 in the UFC and 28-0 overall.
Currently, he holds the most active winning streak at 155-pounds with 12 straight victories, tied with his next challenger Tony Ferguson’s record.
Khabib’s most recent victim was Dustin Poirier.
The two met in the main event of UFC 242 last September, where the defending champion made quick work of ‘The Diamond’ from Louisiana to unify the lightweight belts.
Prior to this victory, Nurmagomedov scored the biggest win of his career so far by defeating Conor McGregor in a grudge match at UFC 229.
With his sheer dominance, it’s not a surprise he always feel motivated to step inside the Octagon.
But that is not always the case for ‘The Eagle.’
Fire Burning
In a recent Q and A with the media in Russia, Nurmagomedov revealed he struggled to find the right motivation to fight in his last four outings.
During this stretch, he fought Edson Barboza, Al Iaquinta, McGregor, and Poirier, with the first two bouts ending by way of unanimous decision.
Q: “Compared to your last training camps, are you going to approach this fight any differently?”
Khabib: “I will train hard.With every fight,i gain more and more experience. Im getting older,i am 31.I think it’s the peak age of fighters career.”
“Of course, i will train more for this fight because i got worthy opponent.He is very good and very dangerous opponent.”
“And to be honest, i lacked this motivation for my last fights, Iaquinta,Conor,Barboza,Poirier.”
But for his next title defence, Khabib said he has finally found the lost spark to go up against Ferguson.
“They’re not the same as Tony Ferguson.Thats why i feel that fire burning inside me again.” (Translation from MMARus Twitter account)
Brutal Warning
Meanwhile, the number one lightweight contender has vowed to give Khabib a brutal ending on their April 2020 fight.
Speaking to Ariel Helwani on Monday, Ferguson said he is going to make the Russian ‘piss blood.’
“He’s going to go through the holidays and he’s going to be wondering about me.”
“I’m going to be in his head again. He’s going to have a lot on his plate, and I think they got a little too arrogant with the way they handled things.”
“I’m in this dude’s head. He’s going to train so hard and he’s going to be so nervous that he’s going to make a mistake.”
“I’m going to capitalize on that. I’m going to catch him during the scramble.”
“I told everybody I’m going to make him piss blood. I said that a while ago.”
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(Featured Image Source: Instagram/ Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov)